Life Lessons on Innovation

By Jennifer Davis

I had the privilege of participating in StudioDror’s launch of their new design geometry, QuaDror. It was held at the New Museum in Manhattan and an overview video was featured on the Planar ep55 flat panel, which was part of the display.

At a press conference hosted by Linda Tischler from Fast Company and Kimberly Brooks from Huffington Post, Dror Benshetrit spoke about his inspiration.

He said that at the launch in South Africa the week before, he met a teacher who encouraged students to first love, then do, then create, and then share.

It seems to me that this is the formula for innovation. You have to first start with empathy and love for the people who you are working with or for. Often it starts as a problem that needs to be solved. But in order to understand the problem, you have to understand WHY it is a problem and really care enough about the problem to want to solve it.

Only then can work be done. The work of doing, experimenting, discussing, debating, creating, and designing can be highly individual or collaborative, but once it is done the innovation must be shared. It is the final step in the formula. Only then can it solve problems and inspire others.The Clarity™ Matrix is an example of this type of innovation. After pioneering rear-projection video walls, we understood the challenges of designing for the depth of creating a large and impressive digital display. Sometimes that depth can be easily accommodated, in a control room setting for instance, but in digital signage and architectural implementations, designers and AV installers needed something that was closer to the light box that they were familiar with.

It is this empathy for the customer that led us to build the world’s thinnest LCD video wall system, with a total depth, including the mount, measuring less than 3.6”. It is the only video wall that meets the stringent Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Our optional Extended Ruggedness and Optics™ (ERO™) option derives from our understanding of the toll that displays take when installed in public environments, especially touch-enabled interactive displays that are growing in popularity.

Of course the product also has the modular flexibility to make it a perfect fit for a variety of design applications from corporate lobbies to hospitality, from higher education student centers to retail merchandising applications that are changing the experience for consumers and the brands they love.And we continue this process of innovation with hopes of delivering useful tools that will be a part of your designs and solutions.